Best Reads of 2022
The most influential books and articles I read this year
Hey everyone,
Happy December!
I thought that this week would be a great time to curate some of the best things I read this year. All of these books and articles have had great influences on my life in one way or another.
I hope you read something or gift a book to someone for Christmas. Reading, both fiction and non-fiction, has been one of the biggest influences on my life.
Over the Holidays, I’d hope that you all can get off Twitter, be together, and also spend some time (re)discovering the true joy of learning for the sake of learning. Maybe you’ll also realize that our attention spans suck, and that books weren’t made to capture our attention but rather to enlighten us and exercise the mind.
📖 Books
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. A great book about balancing productivity and happiness, and how hustle culture has made us a bit less human.
The Comfort Crisis: An incredible book about how the comforts of modern life are killing us and dampen our human potential.
Lying: This short book explores the philosophy of lying and argues how in almost all cases, lying is not the right way to go. I especially enjoyed the chapter on “white lies,” which I now no longer tell.
The Defining Decade: This is a must read for anyone in their 20’s, especially those out of college. With the large cultural shift pushing back work and marriage among other things, this decade is both the most uncertain yet deciding time in life. The author is a clinical psychologist who works with “twentysomethings,” and she shares some good advice on work, relationships, life, and more.
The Four Hour Work Week: While this is broadly a business book, it’s an excellent guide to becoming effective. The author Tim Ferriss described the concept of hybrid and remote work more than a decade before the pandemic.
Letters from a Stoic: A very influential piece of Stoic philosophy to me. Although it’s nearly 2,000 years old, there’s some truly wise and timeless wisdom in this book.
How to Become a Straight-A Student: An excellent book for any high school, college, or grad school student. Most college students don’t know how to truly study, and as I’ve seen in myself, using these strategies, I can study less and get better grades. All it comes down to is effective study strategies, much of which focus on planning and intense focus. Natural intelligence is more irrelevant than it seems.
Fahrenheit 451: If you’re looking to get back into fiction, this is the book. Written in 1953, this book is author Ray Bradbury’s prediction about the future, and some of the similarities to today are very eerie, especially with respect to technology’s impact on us (another good one like this is 1984 by George Orwell).
📰 Articles
The Future of Education by David Perell
Low Expectations by Morgan Housel
Work Life Balance is Impossible by Nat Eliason
Reading Better by Farnam Street
Can a Relaxed Student Get into Grad School? by Cal Newport
Why Does the Stock Market Go Up Over the Long Term? by Ben Carlson
Ephemerality vs. Value for Information, Social Media, Life by Nat Eliason
Are continuous glucose monitors a waste of time for people without diabetes? by Peter Attia
New Study Confirms the Value of Solitude by Cal Newport
Your Comments
If you read any great books or articles this year, please put them in the comments!
To read this on my website, click here.
Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash
As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from you using these book links, at no extra cost to you. Consider this a tip of the hat to me for being a curator of good books for you :)